Cambridge BEC Vantage — All Questions

Choose the best word: 'We need to ___ costs without affecting quality.'

• a.reduce✓
• b.seduce
• c.produce
• d.deduce

'Reduce costs' means to lower them, which fits the business goal. The other words mean to infer, to entice, and to make.

Select the correct term: 'Our company hopes to ___ into the Asian market next year.'

• a.extend
• b.expand✓
• c.enlarge
• d.increase

'Expand into a market' is the standard business collocation for entering a new market. 'Extend' and 'enlarge' do not collocate with 'market' this way.

Which word fits best? 'The two firms agreed to ___ their resources on the project.'

• a.pile
• b.pool✓
• c.post
• d.pour

To 'pool resources' means to combine them for shared benefit, which fits a joint project. The other words are unrelated.

Choose the best word: 'Please find the agenda ___ to this email.'

• a.attach
• b.attaching
• c.attachment
• d.attached✓

'Find the agenda attached' uses the past participle as an adjective, the standard formula for referring to an email attachment.

Select the best fit: 'Sales figures showed a sharp ___ in the third quarter.'

• a.decline✓
• b.declining
• c.declines
• d.declined

A singular noun is needed after the adjective 'sharp'. 'A sharp decline' means a large drop, which fits sales figures.